Railway cars are widely used for transportation of goods and passengers throughout the United States and abroad. Railway cars generally include one or more truck assemblies including a plurality of specially designed wheels for traveling along a vast infrastructure of railway tracks. Braking systems are generally disposed between adjacent pairs of wheels for facilitating the stopping or slowing down of the railway car.
The braking systems generally include front and rear brake assemblies, each including a pair of brake heads with brake pads for contact with an outer periphery of the wheels when the front and rear brake assemblies are moved away from one another. Commonly, an air cylinder including a cylinder rod is provided in the braking system for generating a force for such movement. More particularly, the cylinder rod generally actuates a single lever rotatably connected to one of the front or rear brake assemblies. The lever in turn transfers a divergent braking force through a connection rod attached to the opposite brake assembly through another actuating lever. The divergent braking force moves the assemblies away from one another and presses the brake heads and pads against the wheels.
Due to certain characteristics of the railway cars, such as the weight, travel speeds, etc., the required amount of divergent braking force for slowing or stopping the railway cars may differ from car to car. However, the single lever design offers little adjustability in the amount of divergent braking force generated. Accordingly, in order to adjust an amount of divergent braking force in the known braking systems, the brake cylinder must be matched with the railway car under which the truck is mounted. When larger brake cylinders are required, difficulties and complications may arise during installation.
Additionally, the single lever design may generate rotational movement of the brake assemblies along with linear movement away from one another, resulting in brake pads from one side of the brake assemblies contacting the wheels before brake pads on the other side of the brake assemblies. This may cause certain brake pads to wear more quickly than others.
Therefore, a braking system that allows for more adjustment in the amount of divergent braking forces generated between the brake assemblies from the brake cylinder would be beneficial. Additionally, a braking system that more evenly and symmetrically moves the brake assemblies would be particularly useful.